Absolute power
Subtitle: how the pope became the most influential man in the world
By: Paul Collins
Edition: First edition.
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
ISBN-13: 9781610398602
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Popes; History; Temporal power; Papacy; Roman question
Description: The sensational story of the last two centuries of the papacy, its most influential pontiffs, troubling doctrines, and rise in global authority.

"In 1799, the papacy was at rock bottom: The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished.  In this gripping narrative of religious and political history, Paul Collins tells the improbable success story of the last 220 years of the papacy, from the unexalted death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the celebrity of Pope Francis today. In a strange contradiction, as the papacy has lost its physical power--its armies and states--and remained stubbornly opposed to the currents of social and scientific consensus, it has only increased its influence and political authority in the world"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-348) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Extinction?; title: A death in Valence; title: The "new consciousness" and "neo-ultramontanism"; title: Part II. From "supreme power" to supreme pontiff; title: Tackling a whole new world; title: "God and the revolver!"; title: "Obbedire, Obey"; title: Pontificating on everything; title: Part III. Rolling out and rolling back Vatican II; title: Good Pope John; title: "Throwing open the windows"; title: The Polish colossus; title: Part IV. "The smell of the sheep"; title: "Reform of the reform"; title: The "field hospital"; title: Death and resurrection.